The weblog of Irfan Yusuf, bush lawyer, humorist and award-winning author, once a small-c conservative but now politically left right out. His often irreverent take on things appears in some newspapers in Australia and New Zealand and online. His comic memoir "Once Were Radicals: My Years As A Teenage Islamo-fascist" was published in May 2009 and won the Iremonger Award for Public Issues Writing.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Tim Blair issues fatwa on Sydney Iraqis

Good news to all those Sydney-siders of Iraqi heritage. Tim Blair, the Opinion Page Editor of the Daily Telegraph, has just announced that he doesn't regard you all as psychopathic.

An Arabic newspaper in Sydney says it fears its office will be blown up after a man claiming to represent al-Qaeda in Australia left a threatening telephone message ...

The caller was said to have claimed his “well structured organisation” would destroy the paper’s offices in Sydney and Melbourne and track down its reporters. “We will destroy the paper’s headquarters in Sydney very soon, God willing … you will be butchered,” the caller is alleged to have said.

"Every Iraqi Kurd and Shiite in Australia will be butchered."

Similar threats have previously been made against non-psychopathic Sydney Iraqis.

Gee, that's so nice of you to say that, Mr Blair. I'm sure our troops serving in Iraq will be so grateful to you for expressing your sentiments on Iraqis. I'm sure they will feel more secure in the knowledge that a senior editor of a major Sydney newspaper has described Iraqis (or at least those in Sydney) as psychopathic.

This is the sort of responsible journalism and blogging that will no doubt go a long way toward winning the war of hearts and minds in Iraq.

John Howard and Alexander Downer may be hoping that the civil war in Iraq is ended and that peace and democracy are restored. Perhaps they are being giving Iraqis too much credit. Perhaps Downer should get advice on the true disposition of Iraqis from a senior DT editor.

Blair is saying that people who threaten to blow up newspaper offices are psychopaths (I have no problem with this logic). People who don't are not. Pretty simple.

"God willing, you will be butchered" is disgusting. The only quibble is whether it comes from some dumb alienated kid, or an organised group funded by a Muslim government and defended by Muslim scholars.

Happy White Australia Day. Fly all those Australian Flags and let the hankie heads know that the Union Jack means that we are a Christian nation flying the flags of Saint George, Saint Andrew and Saint Patrick.There will never be a muslim crescent on our Holy flag! Anyone who is not prepared to kiss the Christian flag will get what is coming to them. It was the Union Flag that flew over Gallipoli as our brave Anzacs fought the muslims who had declared war and declared jihad on Western Civilisation. It was the Union Jack on the Australian Flag that was flown at Cronulla in response to the muslim invasion. Our flag is a flag of love for Australia and a flag of hate and resistance against the muslim invaders, rapists, thieves, islam breeders and race enemies.